The Warning from Rose

Once upon a time, there was a little house where there lived a family of gingerbread girls and boys.  They were all very adventurous.  One of them said, "Wouldn't it be nice to go out for a walk today?"  And his name was John.  Then a gingerbread girl named Rose said, "But remember the fox?  He loves to eat gingerbread girls and boys!"  And John said, "Oh, that fox is nothing."  But Rose said, "I'm not coming."  John said, "I'm still going."  And all the other gingerbread boys and girls stayed at home.  So John packed a lunch and decided to have a picnic on his walk.  John whistled on his way as he went into the forest.  Then all of a sudden, he saw a fox standing right in front of him. The fox chased John for ten minutes and just as the fox was about to eat him, all of the other gingerbread girls and boys ran out of the house.  They screamed, "If you eat John we'll hit you until he comes out!  We don't think you want us to hit you, so you better not eat John!"  So the fox did not eat John, and the gingerbread girls and boys never saw the fox again.  And they lived happily ever after.   The end.

The Villagers that Never Gave Up

Once upon a time, there was a little village that was very happy and they didn't even care if they were poor.  They acted like they weren't poor.  They loved to make apple pie and apple things because they had tons and tons of apples on their trees and they loved them.  For most meals, they had apple pie, apples, and they also liked to make apple juice. And everyone in that village was happy.  But in the next little town there were very nice houses and a big huge castle at the top.  A wicked queen lived in the castle and she tried to steal everybody's food.  One time she had an idea.  She said, "Come to a very nice feast at my house."  And when the villagers came to her house, she snuck out and went to steal all of the villagers' apples.  The villagers looked all around the castle to find the queen to tell her it was the feast time.  One villager looked out the window and said, "She's stealing all of our apples."  Then all of  a sudden, they heard a tap, tap, tap, tap, tap on the window.  They answered the door and it was a righteous king who wanted to talk to them.  He said, "What is wrong?  It seems like something is troubling you."  "The mean queen is stealing all of our apples and we don't know what to do" the villagers said.  The king said, "I can't fight the mean queen all by ourselves, but with your help I can!"  So they gathered lots of stones and the king had lots of ropes and they made sling shots.  But before they used the sling shots, they said, "Mean queen, if you keep stealing our apples, we'll have to sling shot you."  So the queen got scared and went back to her castle and decided that she wasn't going to steal anymore.  She gave all the apples back to the villagers and she learned her lesson.  Then the villagers prepared a nice feast for the queen.  They made lots of yummy apple things and they were all best friends from that day on.  The End.

The Villagers that Sailed to a Different Land

Once upon a time, there was a little village in China.  All of the daughters had to get food and water for their families, and no one was really happy.  So they decided that they needed to find a new land and a new home and a new life.  Meanwhile, the mean fox named Swiper loved to eat people who were all dusty and dirty from villages.  But the people didn't know about the fox.  So they decided to pack lots and lots of water and lots and lots of food.  The little girls had to go away from their families for two months to collect all of the food and water for this big trip.  Fortunately, there was a 15 year old girl that was with them to make sure the little girls were safe and sound.  They were super hungry when they came back.  So they ate a little when they came back.  And then all of the villagers had to look all around for 2000 sticks to help make a big ship so that they could sail away to another land.  They lived right by the ocean.  Swiper the fox really loved to swim too.  He knew that there was a village right next to the ocean that had lots and lots of people.  And they all had dark skin and he liked dark skin the most.  So finally, the villager were all ready to get on board the boat.  There were lots of knots tied at the bottom to keep the boat together.  And Swiper said, "I will untie the knots so that they will sink and then I will swim under the water and eat them."  But the villagers made a lots and lots of ropes that they could hold on to and climb back on the ship.  So when Swiper made the knots on the boat looser, one of the men said, "Hey, there's a big crack on our ship, and another one, and another one!"  And the boat tipped over, but they had life jackets on.  Swiper was five-years-old, and he was supposed to have a life jacket on too, but he forgot this that time, so all of the villagers floated with their life jackets, but Swiper sank.  The villagers just swam the rest of the way to their new land and they didn't get food for one month.  When they finally got food, they made a nice house with sticks and wood and they had a better life.  And they lived happily ever after.  The End.

The Man Checked the Weather and Saved his Family

Once upon a time, there lived a family and they were camping.  And one night they were roasting marshmellows by a warm, nice fire and then they went to bed.  In the middle of the night, the dad wanted to look at the computer and check the weather.  The dad's name was Brooke, the mom's name was Rose, and they had four children that were all girls.  The youngest was five and her name was Julie.  The second youngest was seven and her name was Isabella.  The next kid was even older...she was eleven and her name was Rosie.  And the oldest was named Leah and she was thirteen.  The girls were all pretty old.  The dad realized that there was a tornado coming at midnight.  So he woke up his children and told them that they had to pack up their things and leave because a tornado was coming.  So the children packed their little backpacks.  The mom packed the tent.  And the dad packed the marshmallows and the skewers.  The family drove home that night and when they got to their house they made some beds in the basement.  And they never had a tornado again when they were camping.  The End. 

A Man's Trust in God

Once upon a time, there lived a man.  And he was sleeping--it was night time.  But in the middle of the night, he had a dream that God was going to put his city on fire.  And God said to this guy, "Take your family tonight, pack up a little bit of your stuff, and ride into the desert on camels."  Because of this man's trust of God, he woke up his wife and children and family and said, "We have to leave tonight on a camel because this city is going to go on fire!"  So that night they went and they found a nice new home away from their city.  But the next day a mean guy came and he wanted to burn their house.  So they decided to run out of their house, with their children in hand, and they had to run far away.  But the bad guy chased them.  The family ran as fast as they could.  Fortunately, they were some of the fastest runners in the world, and the bad guy was one of the slowest runners in the world.  So the bad guy finally gave up and the family was safe forever.  And they lived happily ever after, the end!

The Brave Family who Never Gave Up

Once upon a time there lived a really, really strong family that never game up.  The dad's name was Broch and the mom's name was Rose.  They had five children.  They were a big family.  The biggest girl was named Isabella.  The next biggest girl was named Louise.  And the last girl was a baby and she was five months.  Her name was Kianna.  The two boys were twins.  Their names were Jason and Abraham.  They were both four.  Once there was a really, really mean bad guy coming to their house and he was the meanest bad guy in the whole world.  But the family didn't give up.  Before the mean man got there, the family had a plan.  Pssst, psst, psst...they whispered the plan.  In their house they had a secret hide out that they found all together.  It was upstairs in the mom and dad's closet.  It had a light in there.  They ran in there the whole family, and it was pretty big in there so that was good news.  So they locked the door and hid in their hide out.  The bad guy tried to get in--he banged and banged on the door.  Boom, boom, boom!  He had an idea...he had something to knock through people's door so he could find them.  So he knocked through the door but he still couldn't find the family.  The family was really happy because he finally gave up.  The bad guy's name was Woody.  And when they saw Woody running down the street to their friends' house, they were really worried.  So they warned their friends to watch out for Woody.  But Woody was having so much fun skipping down the road that he passed the house.  The family called the police and the police put Woody in jail.  And everyone in the neighborhood lived happily ever after.  The end.

Princess Ella Saves the World

Once upon a time, there lived a princess.  She was in charge of the whole world.  She was a very nice princess.  Her name was Princess Ella.  Although her mother was very wicked...she was one of the most wicked people who had lived in the whole entire earth.  And she tried to destroy the whole earth because Ella was in charge of it.  Then Ella had an idea to protect everyone in the world.  She had a new invention.  She was going to give away all of her princess stuff...her jewelry, her crown, and everything except her dress.  Her favorite thing was wishing and all of these things were for making wishes with.  So she gave one of them to every family in the whole entire world and told them that they could make a wish and it would come true.  So every family and person in the world made a wish that they could be safe.  And then all of a sudden, there was an earthquake where Ella's mom was and she got sick.  She was in the hospital, and the people quickly packed up all of the special things they needed to survive from their houses. And the people decided to go to space and create a new world so that they didn't have to live with Ella's mean mom.   It took five years for them to make their new world.  And at last they finally got a nice world with houses and furniture.  And they were all really happy in their new world.  The people thought it was worth the time to make the new world.  And then Ella got pregnant with two girls.  She went to the hospital and had her babies.  Then she went home and she named them Leah and Julia.  Then she got married to a man named Eric and they all lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Family that Saved Themselves

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl with long, red hair named Jasmine.  And there lived a little boy named Jack who had brown, short hair.  They were brother and sister.  Their mom was named Cortea and their dad was named Chap.  They lived happily together.  One day some mean men came and hurt the family.  Then they all had ideas.  Cortea and Jack's idea was to go and make some medicine by themselves to get better.  Then Jasmine and Chap's idea was to make a bed and sleep on it for two days.  Then they all got better and lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Brave Allie that Would Never Give Up

Once upon a time there lived a family of happy people: cousins, aunts, uncles, a big extended family living together in one big house.  There were very happy, but one day a mean person called Swiper started sneaking into their house and stealing nice things at night.  One morning they woke up in their pajamas and they were going to get dressed and they looked in their closets and there were NO clothes left.  They were so angry that they packed some snacks and a water bottle and lots of things that they needed in their big backpacks, and they decided to go out in their pajamas and search for the person who had stolen their clothes.  So they split up: one little family went east, one little family went north, one little family went south, and one little family went west.  The family going north didn't find the person; the family going south didn't find the person.  But there was one little girl going east who would never ever ever give up.  Her name was Allie.  Allie searched for fifteen days without stopping for any meal or any snack.  She was so brave, she wouldn't give up.  She survived without all of those things for two weeks.  And then finally she had a big sip of water and a big healthy lunch and was back on her journey.  Finally she found Swiper because she knew what he looked like because she had woken up in the night and seen him take the clothes.  When Swiper wasn't looking, she sneaked behind him and got the big bag of her family's clothes and took them.  On the way back to her family, she found lots of jewelry.  She put them on and people started calling her the Brave Queen Allie. And they all lived happily ever after.  The End.

Visiting the Cousins

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl who went to visit her cousins.  Her name was Shanna, and she was five.  Her mom's name was Azzy, and her dad's name was Brian.  She had fun with her cousins who lived in the Alps.  One day they went hiking.  Shanna's cousins were twelve, eight, seven, five, and two.  The older cousins found the Matterhorn and they wanted to climb it.  But the younger cousins said, "No!  It's way too high!"  So they decided that they were going to have to fight, and whoever won would get to choose what all of the cousins were going to do.  So it was the older cousins against the younger cousins.  Both of them huddled up to make a plan.  The younger cousins decided to go and get a bunch of paper to crumble up to throw at the older cousins.  The older cousins' plan was to get blankets from their house and to put them over the younger cousins' heads so that they couldn't see.  Everyone went home and got what they needed and then went back to the bottom of the Matterhorn.  Then the battle started.   The twelve year old cousins decided who did the best job fighting.  His name was Wacky.  The younger cousins won.  So everybody went back home and it was time for dinner.  They had macaroni and cheese and cake for dessert.  Then they had a sleepover.  And in the morning, Shanna, Azzy, and Brian went back to their own house.  And they all lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Girl that Changed her Mind

One upon a time, there lived a girl named Sabrina.  She lived in Russia.  She loved spring.  And she did not like winter at all.  She said to her mom, "When it's winter time, I will never go outside."  Sabrina's mom said, "It's good for you to go outside, and you have to go outside."  So very frustrated, Sabrina put on all her snow gear and went outside.  She was freezing cold and she hated the time she had in the snow.  Sabrina asked her mom, "What's so important about winter?"  And her mom said, "In the winter, you need to go to school and to church and skiing."  The mom's name was Nadia.  One day, Sabrina woke up and asked her mom, "What are those little white things falling from the sky?"  And Nadia said, "That is snow."  And Sabrina said, "This is the kind of snow that I like because it's so soft."  So she put her snow gear on as fast as she could and ran outside.  But then she fell on her way and she broke her bone.  So then she couldn't go outside to play in the snow.  Sabrina said, "I need to go to the hospital."  And she had to stay there for three months!  But when she came home from the hospital, she ran upstairs and put on her snow gear as fast she could and went out and played in the snow for two hours.  And winter became her favorite season.  And Sabrina and Nadia lived happily ever after.  The end.

The People who Changed their Minds

Once upon a time, there was a little town called Sad People.  Everybody was sad in the land.  That's why it was called Sad People.  They had many problems there.  Some of their houses were knocked down, and they didn't have enough food because the rain didn't come that year.  So they decided that they would have to eat their food when it was not ripe.  The people wanted to move but all of the other towns had bad people in them, so they had to stay in their town of Sad People.  Unfortunately, all of the people in the town were not generous.  That means that they wouldn't share or help.  The people said, "We don't know what to do."  That night everybody in the land had to eat not-ripe corn and green beans for dinner.  They did not like their land.  They finally decided that they would help each other now that they had such a bad life.  One family helped their neighbor water their plants so they would grow.  The next neighbor helped another family cook some of their food.  The next family helped another family fix their house.  Another family helped clean their house.  Some people helped clean up the play equipment in someone's backyard.  Pretty soon, all of their houses were clean as can be.  They shined like gold.  They thought it looked like gold because it was so much nicer.  And then they erased the big town sign that said "Sad People" and put a new sign that said "Happy People."  And then they had a nice life forever.  And they lived happily ever after.  The End. 

The Wicked Turnadot and Shannie

Once upon a time, there lived a wicked queen.  And she wanted all of the gold and all of the nice things in the world to herself.  Her helpers were very bad too.  But the king was very good.  So they had disagreements a lot.  The queen's name was Turnadot and the King's name was Alex.  One time a really wicked queen came.  She was the mother of Turnadot.  Every month she came to teach Turnadot mean things.  Her name was Shannie, and she taught Turnadot to force people and to be mean to her sisters and daughters.  She was wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked.  The king said, "If you don't stop being mean, I'm not going to be your husband anymore."  Then Turnadot got furious.  One day there was a huge tornado and it was only one degree outside.  It was super freezing.  Alex, Turnadot, and Shannie had to get up the highest tree in the world, so that they could be close to the sun and stay warm.  Fortunately, they lived close to that tree.  Shannie was holding onto a big branch on the tree and if she fell, she would die.  Turnadot didn't know what to do.  But Alex didn't want to save her because she was so wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked.  So Shannie died and then queen Turnadot was so sad, that she decided to become good--especially because she didn't have any more lessons on how to be mean.  Every month of the year, Alex gave Turnadot a lesson on how to be nice.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Girl that Wanted to Eat the Pickle

Once upon a time there was a little girl that liked to eat pickles.  But she was allergic to them.  She said, "I know what to do, I'll take a knife and cut a pickle into little pieces and eat the parts I'm not allergic to."  But she didn't like the parts she wasn't allergic to.  So then she took a jump rope and jumped on a pickle and mashed it until it was mushy.  But she ended up having to do it for eight weeks.  Then finally when it was finished she went to eat it and she said, "Yummy tummy, this is yummy!"  She had a good meal and she lived happily ever after.  The end.

Swahili Wanted to get a House

Once upon a time there lived an old man that lived with a little cat in a house.  And one day the old man said, "I want to move."  But he only had three dollars, and the house he wanted was three hundred dollars.  So he said, "I know what to do...I'll go to the bank and borrow some money."  So he went to the bank and got two hundred and ninety seven dollars.  Then he said, "Now I'll go home and find a house."  But then he lost fifteen dollars on his way home.  When he got home he looked on the computer and found a nice house, but when he went to buy it, he still didn't have enough money.  So he ran to the bank again and got some more money.  But again, he lost some on the way home.  So he went to the bank the last time and he got enough money and nothing fell out.  Then he paid for the house and he moved in with his cat and all of his stuff.  The cat's name was Dina and the old man's name was Swahili.  They moved into the house and they had a good life.

One day Swahili and Dina woke up really early and went for a walk in the forest.  They looked up and saw a witch, and the witch put them in her high, high tower.  Only she knew the secret word to get in and out.  It was "abrel."  (In Spanish, that means open.)  After twenty seven years she finally let them out.  So they went back to their new house and celebrated that they were finally out of the witch's tower and into their new home that they had bought.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end. 

The Brave Sheila

Once upon a time, there lived a girl with a family.  They were very poor.  They all had big jobs to do to make their life nice.  The girl's name was Sheila, the mom's name was Swilia, and the dad's name was Brad.  They were a happy family but very sad about their life.  One day  Sheila went blueberry picking.  She went far into the woods and got lost, and there was a thunderstorm.  And then a lot of wolves came out and she was scared.  They were going to eat her and she didn't know what to do.  Sheila had a cell phone but she had left it at home.  She was scared, lonely, and frightened.  She decided to get out her map, but the wolf got her map and ate it.  She didn't know what to do.  Then she heard a voice calling, "Sheila, Sheila!"  She looked and it was her mom, and her mom threw a map to her.  And she found her way home before the wolf and the thunderstorm got her.  And she was very happy.  Once Sheila got home, she was very cold, so her mom made some hot chocolate.  And they had nice warm eggs and sushi and mashed potatoes for dinner.  That night Brad told Sheila a nice bedtime story and Sheila really liked it.  Then Swilia and Brad went to bed too.  The next morning, Sheila had a nice breakfast and went to school.  But there was another thunderstorm on the way to school and her mom wasn't with her (because Sheila was old enough to walk to school by herself).  But her teacher found her and she had an umbrella and a rain coat for her.  At school, the bully of Sheila's class was really, really, really, really, really mean to her.  The Bully's name was Meat.  But her teacher disciplined Meat, and after school Sheila's dad picked her up and took her to the library.  Then they went home and had some lunch.  They had a very nice day.  Then she went to ice-skating.  That night she thought of how she could be a princess and live in a castle.  She dreamed of being Snow White.  And then next morning, she turned into Snow White and her mom and dad were a King and Queen and they lived happily ever after. 

The Boy that Wanted to get his Ball out of the Witch's Forest

Once upon a time, there lived a little prince.  And he was playing with a little ball.  But then the ball bounced into the witch's forest where he was never ever supposed to go.  If he went, he was supposed to be locked up in a tower.  He wanted to get the ball, but he didn't want to be locked up in the tower.  He did not know what to do.  Then he had an idea...he said, "I'm going to go to the grocery store to buy another ball."  He saw lots of big balls, but he didn't see the one that he wanted.  But way, way, way at the top shelve, there was a sparkly star pony ball.  And he said, "I want to get that ball, but I don't have any money, and I it's too high for me to reach."  So he said, "I have an idea...I can draw some money and make fake money so they think that I can buy the ball."  So he first used the fake money to buy a ladder. Then he climbed up and got the ball that he wanted.  Then he used the fake money to buy the ball, but right before the store took his money, they realized that it was fake money.  And they put the boy in prison for three years.  He wanted to get out.  Then he saw the witch and he was trying to hide.  But the witch had decided that she wanted to be a good witch.  And she had keys to the prison.  So she let the boy out and he said, "thank you!  thank you!"  And they became really good friends forever. And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Awesome Trip to Istanbul (a real story)

One time we went to Istanbul.  This is why we went to Istanbul.  Because Dad had to teach at a law school.  We stayed at a teacher's guesthouse.  We could see dolphins jumping in the sea from our window.  We rode a ferry in Istanbul.  It took us across the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia.  We went to a mosque.  It was called the Blue Mosque.  As mosque is a church for Muslim people.  Mommy had to wear a head scarf.  We did it sometimes but not all of the time.  My aunt and uncle, Scott and Coco, came to visit.  I went to the Aya Sofia with them without my mommy or dad.  All this time, Bronte was in my mommy's tummy.  At dad's law school, I met a friend.  His name was Sertach.  My Grandma and Grandpa came to visit too.  I loved Istanbul and I loved all of the tulips there. 

The Man Who Kept our Bike (a real story)

One time we wanted to go to the zoo.  But we were riding our bikes.  We lost one of the bikes on the train platform.  We were worried that it would be taken.  But a teenage boy who was waiting for a train, instead of getting on the train, he stayed with mom's bike on the platform.  Daddy and I went back to the station and saw that boy waiting with our bike.  We got it and we went to the zoo happily.  This is the story of the man keeping our bike instead of taking it.

The Princess and Prince that Love to Eat

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a princess and a prince that loved to eat more than anything.  One time the prince said, "I would like to have some tomato soup."  The princess did too.  For one hour he looked for tomatoes and he picked one hundred of them.  And he put them in a pot at home.   Then he said, "Some chicken would be good in this stew too."  Then he looked for half an hour for a chicken, and he finally found one.  Then he put the chicken in the pot.  And then he said, "It would be really good to have some green beans and onions in this soup."  So he got some onions from his cupboard, and he went to his farm to pick the green beans.  Then he said, "A little bit of water and lentils would be nice too."  So he got lentils and put them into the pot.  Then he got four cups of water and put it in the pot.  He stirred it for a little bit and then said, "Some garlic and cumin would be good too...and the secret ingredient--a little bit of salt and pepper."  So he added two tablespoons of salt and pepper.   "I'll add some noodles too," he said.  He let it cook for twenty minutes, but then it overflowed and there was lots of smoke everywhere.  He had to get under a blanket and open all of the windows.  He coughed a hundred times.  So he went to look in the pot and said, "The soup is ruined!"  "I'll just have to make another one!"  And he did and they had a big dinner party with the soup.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end. 

The Snow Princess

Once upon a time, there was a girl that loved snow more than anything else in the whole world.  But there was no snow where she lived.  One day she heard someone calling for help.  And then she saw a little bird stuck in a cage.  The bird said, "A mean witch put me in this cage, and no one will help me because everyone is scared of the witch."  The girl who loved snow more than anything in the world, said, "I'll let you free."  And she let the bird free.  Then the bird said, "I have a surprise for you."  And the bird gave the girl a crystal and told her to smile in it.  And then there was snow everywhere, and the girl had a beautiful white dress on.

One day the girl saw something flying in the air.  She realized that it was the witch.  The witch waved her magic wand and got the necklace from the girl and locked the girl in a high tower.  No one could ever save her.  But one of her snowflake helpers tried to find her.  The snowflake finally found the girl and said, "We have to get you out of here."  So the snowflake flew for two hours and finally found the witch.  And when the witch wasn't looking, she grabbed her keys and unlocked the Snow Princess and all of the other animals that were trapped.  From that day on, everyone called the girl the Snow Princess, and they all obeyed her.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

Cows that Type and Throw a Party

Once upon a time, there was a big farm in the middle of the land.  And the cows could type.  And the farmer was furious.  So the farmer called the policeman.  But the policeman said it's wasn't a problem.  So the farmer said to the cows, if you don't stop typing, I'm going to send you to animal jail.  So that night all of the cows went for an emergency meeting.  They had a plan.  They said that they would stop typing if the farmer would stop blaming them.  So the farmer finally said that that was a good deal.  The farmer stopped blaming the cows and the cows stopped typing.

One day there was a big earthquake, but they were all safe.  The farmer had started to be really nice to the cows.  They were all really happy.  Then the cows wanted to have a surprise.  They found out that it was the farmer's birthday.  One day the farmer was in his house, the cows sneaked away and got birthday supplies at the store.  When the farmer was gone the next day, they blew up balloons and made a cake, and hid in his house.  When he came  home, the cows jumped out of the his house and said, "Happy Birthday Farmer!"  They had a really nice time at the party, and they all lived happily ever after.  The end.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Once upon a time. in a far away land, there was a town called Chew and Swallow.  In most ways it was like most cities.  But there were no food stores...they didn't need any.  The sky supplied all of the food the people could possibly want.  One day it rained juice and soup, mashed potatoes and peas, and two thousand hamburgers for lunch.  The food landed on lots of people.  Everyone was safe and they got out of the hamburgers and had a good lunch.  One day there was big hurricane of salt and pepper and lots of different food.  Lots of things got damaged and it was awful.  Then there was another hurricane and two hundred houses were damaged.  One day it rained really, really hard all different kinds of water, juice, and soup.  The sky was really grey and all of the people had to stay in doors for most of the time.  Many things were damaged and people were really, really scared.  Big doughnuts and big ice cream were damaging roofs and houses.  The policeman and ambulances all gave up.  The decision was made to leave Chew and Swallow.  The people took big pieces of cheese and used them for a sail and sailed away to a new place.  But they had to buy all of their food.  They lived happily ever after.

Madeline the Tight Rope Walker

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.  She didn't have a mom or a dad.  So she would steal a lot of things from people.  She was six years old.  Her name was Madeline.  One day she stole something from a man but then he caught her.  Instead of telling the police, he made her do a job where she had to do something she didn't want to do.  She had to look really pretty on a stage.  She did not like that job.  She wanted to do the tight rope in the circus, but she wasn't good at it.  So Madeline practiced the tight rope, but the mean man kept making her do the job she didn't like.  He was a really mean man.  One time, he wanted to steal a really, really, really pretty bell--a bell that had diamonds and jewels inside of it.  He also wanted to steal someone's child.  The really mean man told a lie to a policeman and said that Madeline was the one who was stealing things, so she got put in jail.  They finally let her out but they tied a rope around her hands so she couldn't move her hands.  Then Madeline had a good idea.  She told the idea to the policeman and they finally untied her.  They used the rope and thew it to a rock and then she tight roped across it.  She had a trick where she could put her head down and hold the rope with her feet and then swing back up.  She saved a boy from the really mean man.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

Fun Life

This story was originally a picture book that Simone drew.  It was the first story book she created.

Once upon a time, there was a family who lived in Chicago.  They had very comfy beds.  Everything was comfy.  They woke up in the morning, and they got out of bed.  There was a little rhyme that they always said when they woke up: "Wake up, night time, it is wake up time."

They ate their breakfast, and then they were off to school.  They did lots of fun things at school.  Then they went back home.  The family had a mom, a dad, and a child.  The dad's name was Jacob, the mom's name was Khania, and the child's name was Abby.

They went to the beach after school.  They stayed for two hours, and then they went home.  The beach was very windy and cold.  But it was still very, very, very fun.  They walked home and saw some roses.  They saw lots of kinds of flowers.  They saw sunflowers, lupines, and tulips.  They enjoyed the walk home, but the dad lost the directions so they didn't know how to get home.  They didn't know what to do.  But then all of a sudden, they remembered how to get home: it was left, right, straight, right, straight.

The next morning, Abby went to school.  They learned about math and the alphabet.  She came home with her friend.  Her friend was named Nala.  When they got to Abby's house, they played.  They played doctor, then they played house, and last they played restaurant.  Then Nala had to go home.  Nala was a little bigger than Abby.  Abby was four but Nala was six.

That night the family went to see fireworks.  They were red, blue, yellow, and purple.

At dinner time the family had spaghetti and meatballs.  Abby cooked it.  And Abby set the table too. Abby was a great help to her mom.  After dinner, she scrubbed the dishes.  The dinner was very good.

The next morning, they got dressed.  Abby picked out a dress that had butterflies on it.  And Abby picked out some green pants with with polk-a-dots on it.

The mom and Abby decided on an agenda for the day at breakfast.  One of the things on the agenda was to take cookies to everyone in the neighborhood.  When they got home from delivering the cookies, they looked on the agenda to see what they were going to do next.  It was night time.  Next on the agenda was to go to their friend's house and have a sleepover.  The dad was going to stay home, and the mom and Abby went to the sleepover.

At night, they could see the stars out their window.  It was night-time at the sleepover.  It was at Ted's house.  Ted was Abby's friend.  In the morning, they got up and had oatmeal for breakfast.  After breakfast, they left Ted's house.  They went to a birthday party at Nala's house.  Nala was turning seven.

Abby's mom had a new baby.  He was a boy.  His name was Jackson.  But Abby was jealous of all of the attention he was getting.  Abby wanted to think of an idea to ruin some of the attention he was getting.  But then Abby decided that Jackson was littler than she was, and she decided not to ruin his parties.

After the last party, two of Abby's friends came over.  Their names were Leah and Alex.  Abby showed Leah and Alex her basement that had tons of toys.  They played for a long time.  Abby showed Alex and Leah her favorite toys.  They were a frog, a panda bear, a lamb, and a walrus.  The walrus' name was Walry, the frog's name was Froggy, the Panda's name was Pandy, and the lamb's name was Lamby.  They all played together with the stuffed animals.

They went to see an enormous rainbow at the museum.  After the museum, they went to see firecrackers.  They were purple.  All of them were purple.

After the firecrackers, Abby's friend Nala came over for dinner. Abby played with Nala when dinner was over. Then Nala went home.

It was night time.  When Abby went to bed, Khania went grocery shopping.  Khania bought oranges, cantaloupe, ice cream, cookies, peanut butter, carrots, apples, and chicken.  She also got M and Ms and toys.

The next morning, they went to the swimming pool.  They swam for three hours and they had a fun time.  But Abby got a bit whiny on the way home.   When they got back home, Jacob gave Abby a little bit of ice cream, and that calmed Abby down.

After the swimming pool, they went skiing.  They went skiing for three hours all as a family.  It was very, very, very fun.  Then they went home.  They lived in Chicago in a little red house.  It was an apartment building.

They went to the Art Museum to see paintings.  They saw one, big enormous painting.  Because it was so big, they only saw one.  Then they went home.  It was Jacob's birthday so they had cake and ice cream with a couple of friends.

That night they went to sleep.  The next morning, they had to move to another house.  They had to wake up very early.  They promised their landlord that they would be out of the house before eight o'clock.  They also promised their landlord that they would be out of the little red house after eight months.  They were sad to leave the little red house.  But Abby helped pack and they found a big blue house--not an apartment building.  They lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Lion King and Lion Queen get Married

Once upon a time, there was a king, and it was a lion king.  But he didn't have a lion queen for a wife.  He wanted to have a lion queen, but he didn't know where to find one.  One day there was a big hurricane and a lion queen saved the lion king.  Then the lion king asked her name.  She said her name was Sheena.  And the queen asked, "What's your name?"   And the king said, "My name is Rick."  And she said, "Can you come over to my house for dinner tonight?"  And he said, "Yes!"  So the lion king and the lion queen both went back to their own castles. When it was time for dinner, Rick went to Sheena's house.  They had antelope and wildebeest for dinner that night.  Then the lion king went home.  The lion king and the lion queen liked each other.  Then there was another hurricane and the lion king saved the lion queen that time.  Because they were so happy, they went out dancing.  And then they flew a kite.  But the wind was so strong from the hurricane, it lifted both of them up and they got caught in a tree.  They didn't know what to do.  They got in an argument about how they were going to get down.  Then they agreed.  The plan was for the lion king to climb up to the branch where the kite was and then swing back to get the lion queen and jump to the ground.  Then they were all happy.  That night they went to the lion king's house for dinner.  And at dinner they got in another argument because the lion king wanted to get married but the lion queen just wanted to be really good friends.  They went home and they were mad at each other.  The next night they didn't have dinner together.  But the night after that, they did, and they decided that they were going to get married.  The lion queen had changed her mind because she always wanted to have children.  So she finally decided that she would get married.  After they got married, they had two girl lions and one boy lion, and they lived happily ever after.  The End.